


Gotta Live Before We Get Older (Nothing To Lose)

by sadspencer



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: BAMF Spencer Reid, Bisexual Spencer Reid, Fluff, Happy, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, M/M, Piercings, Spencer Reid-centric, Tattoos, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:14:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27960623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadspencer/pseuds/sadspencer
Summary: the silence that followed in the next few seconds was eventually broken by prentiss loudly exclaiming, "i'm sorry, what was that?"•••or the one in which spencer surprises everyone with his view on tattoos
Relationships: Henry LaMontagne & Spencer Reid, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau & Spencer Reid, Penelope Garcia & Spencer Reid, Spencer Reid & The BAU Team
Comments: 39
Kudos: 522





	Gotta Live Before We Get Older (Nothing To Lose)

**Author's Note:**

> title is from "alive" by one direction
> 
> this was supposed to be maybe a thousand words at most. oops.

paperwork days were usually tedious, the clock on the wall getting more attention than any other day. when they weren't shooting pointed glances at said object, hoping that time will move faster by pure will, the team had to find some other way to entertain themselves - this was how they often found themselves saying anything on their minds; anything that could distract them from the repetitive cycle of _paperwork paperwork paperwork_ until they were finally allowed to leave. 

everyone had their typical conversation starters of random thoughts. prentiss would usually complain about the amount of work she had and try to get reid to accept some of her files, despite her already 'sneaking' some into his pile (he knew she was doing it, he just didn't call her out on it because he secretly liked it, not that he'd ever admit that to her). morgan would often start with "did i ever tell you guys about the time…", telling them a tale that they were never quite sure the validity of, but he was so very adamant of his honesty that they gave him the benefit of the doubt.

when garcia would join them in the bullpen, it would be when she had a search running that left her nothing to do until it was finished, in which case she would tell them how bored she was being away from her chocolate thunder for so long - a vitamin d deficiency she'd call it (d standing for derek, of course). jj's visits to them were rarer on paperwork days, but when they did occur it tended to be because she just had to show them a photo of henry or tell a story about him. reid was the most unlikely to start a conversation. sure, he'd pitch in sometimes but his mind ran too fast for him to have a singular thought distinct enough to voice aloud. majority of the time, he was barely aware of the rest of the team conversing, no matter how loud they could be.

on this particular day, both jj and garcia had decided to bless the bullpen with their presence. the latter had waltzed through the glass doors loudly claiming, "the chances of me quitting and getting a job at a puppy daycare increase each and every time i look at those photos." 

to which morgan replied, "mama, you know you'd never leave me here without you." 

it doesn't take a genius to guess where the conversation would have led from there but thankfully for all listening ears, this was the moment that jj walked in and stated, "so i've been thinking…"

"well that's never a good sign." morgan quipped.

jj rolled her eyes as prentiss flicked the man on the forehead, walking past on her way from the breakroom. "shut up, let her talk. what were you thinking about?"

"well," she leaned against the woman's desk, "i've actually been thinking about tattoos."

"tattoos?!" the tech analyst squeaked, straightening her back in her seat perched on morgan's desk. "you would look so badass with tattoos!" 

"thank you, penelope," she laughed, "i'm just not entirely sure what i'd get. i know it would be for henry at least. i was wondering if you guys could help with ideas? like morgan, when you got your tattoos, how did you choose?"

he contemplated the question for a few seconds before answering, "they all hold meaning to me. some of the meanings are less obvious but i know what they are. i have a friend who does all my tattoos, and usually we sit and talk about what i want it to mean and any ideas i have and by the time we're done, we'll have a design."

"i want one that's obviously for henry, " she sighed, crossing her arms in thought, "but i've been brainstorming with will for the past few nights and we can't think of anything i'd want permanently on my body. i can't just get anything, it's got to really mean something." 

"no, it doesn't," prentiss disagreed, "it could just be henry's name. not all tattoos have to have deep meanings or anything."

"of course they do," jj argued (though everybody knew it wasn't an actual argument, those two could never seriously argue about anything), "it's on your body forever, why would you get something that doesn't mean something?" 

"i just think that tattoos are something that are meant to be fun, and sitting there agonising over what to get can't be fun. i've never gotten a tattoo but if i did it would probably be while i'm wasted of something super stupid but super badass, y'know?" 

"pen, what do you think?" she asked.

"well," the lady in question started, "i personally would not get a tattoo. if i did, like if i absolutely had to, i think it would be something really cute so that i always had something nice to look at instead of icky crime scene photos that make me wanna cry. but to answer your question, my lovely, i don't think they really need meaning. your body is a temple and you should decorate it however you please." 

"hey, pretty boy," morgan called. the doctor hummed non-committally in response, not taking his gaze away from his work. "what's your opinion on this, huh? do tattoos need to have meaning or what?" 

"most of mine don't have actual meaning so i think it'd be pretty hypocritical of me to say otherwise." he replied absently.

the silence that followed in the next few seconds was eventually broken by prentiss loudly exclaiming, "i'm sorry, what was that?" 

this caught the attention of both hotch and rossi, who were making their way to the breakroom for more coffee. they stopped on the way, instead choosing to focus their gazes where everybody else was.

reid finally looked up and around, subconsciously shrinking in on himself as he saw everybody's eyes on him. "um, what was what?"

the three aware of the situation just blinked at him, unsure how to react.

"what did reid do this time?" rossi asked jokingly.

"nothing!" the genius insisted, "all i did was answer a question. i think i missed something? i'm not sure what, though."

"spencer, sweetie," garcia got off the desk and walked slowly closer, "are you meaning to tell me that you have tattoos?" 

this time it was his turn to blink at her, furrowing his brows. "wait, that's what this is about? you didn't know i had tattoos? is that it?" 

"what do you mean, ' _is that it_ '?! you can't just drop a bomb like that! since when did you have tattoos?!" she exclaimed.

"uh, since i was fifteen?" he didn't mean to phrase it like a question, but he was truly confused that they had never known.

"fifteen?" morgan repeated, a small smile on his face. "man, he's pulling our leg. i almost believed you as well. you just went a step too far. we've been over this, kid - overcompensating is a tell of yours."

realisation dawned on the rest of their faces as they accepted what morgan said as truth. after all, they've worked together for so long that there's no way they wouldn't have noticed something as obvious as tattoos.

"baby genius, how dare you lie to me like that? i got so excited for a second there!" 

"...i didn't. why would i lie about that?" 

"spence, we've known you for years. i think we would've all noticed _tattoos_ by now." declared jj.

"I'm not sure we would have, actually." hotch seemed to be the only one not entirely convinced their youngest member was lying. 

"what do you mean? we're trained to notice things, it's literally our jobs." prentiss asked.

"well, think about it. have any of you ever even seen him without a shirt?" after receiving no answer, he continued. "exactly. whether he was trying to hide it or not, it's not impossible that he has tattoos and we just haven't seen them. it's not about profiling if we never have anything to profile."

spencer smiled. "thanks, hotch. and for the record, " he turned to the others, "i've never hidden them from you. you've just never seen them."

morgan wasn't entirely convinced. "oh yeah? prove it." 

"morgan, we're at work. i'm not just gonna strip off in the bullpen."

"excuses, excuses." he challenged. 

"i'm not making excuses! i'm not sure if you're aware of this, but typically it's considered rude to suddenly take your shirt off in a public place."

prentiss snorted, causing morgan to shoot her a glare with no heat behind it before demanding, "alright, we'll go to the roundtable room and you can show us there."

reid's jaw dropped. "i- what? i'm not taking my shirt off." 

"so you _are_ lying?" rossi was just as curious as the others, though if asked he'd say he just liked teasing the kid (that was true too).

"no! of course not." 

"okay, so prove it. to the roundtable room we go."

"prentiss! you should not be condoning this." prentiss smirked at him instead of replying, feeling no need to defend her actions. he turned to his boss with pleading eyes, "come on, hotch. tell them this isn't a workplace matter."

"hmm, would you look at that? it's about time for your breaks. how would you like to all sit in the briefing room with the blinds closed and order something from there?" 

reid glared at the unit chief as everyone agreed that _yes, that sounds like a great idea_ and got up from their desks. catching the younger man's gaze, hotch let his smugness stretch his lips into a small grin. he followed next to his subordinate as they all made their way to the other room, quietly asking, "this is okay, right? if you really don't want to, we won't force you."

spencer grumbled, "yes, it's fine," before loudly stating, "but don't be surprised when we have a sexual harassment seminar after i tell strauss about this."

"please," jj scoffed, "you're too scared of strauss to go tell on us."

"shut up, jj. just because you're right doesn't mean you have to call me out on it."

when everyone besides him was settled at the table, the focus of their attention shut the door and closed the blinds all the way. "alright," he sighed, making his way to the front of the room, "let's get this over with."

they sat in quiet anticipation as spencer removed his sweater vest and tie before unbuttoning his shirt. he wasted no time in pushing it off his shoulders and looking up to see their reactions. 

he didn't lie, he really didn't hide it from them. the only people that knew of the art on his body other than the artist were his mother (he wrote and told her each time he got another), his friend ethan (they'd often go together, sometimes ethan would also get one but often he'd just enjoy watching), and people he'd slept with (that one is pretty self-explanatory). he was actually quite excited to share this part of his life with the team. he assumed that they wouldn't be interested so he didn't bother telling them when he got another - he's never had to go on a takedown with a healing tattoo so he saw no use in informing his boss. 

speaking of his team, they were all currently sat with shocked expressions on their faces. even hotch, the ever stoic leader, had his eyebrows raised in surprise. 

"i'm not entirely sure what i was expecting, but i can safely say it wasn't for you to look like someone doodled all over you." rossi eventually spoke.

reid shrugged. "i mean, a lot of them _are_ just doodles. like, this little dragon guy," he pointed at a small drawing of a dragon on the left side of his ribs, tail curled up and finishing next to the nipple, "was drawn in my notebook after i finished all my paperwork for the day, and i got him tattooed a few days later."

he noticed penelope's furrowed brow and raised an eyebrow, prompting her to voice her thoughts. "that one, on your right hip," she pointed at one of a small cat wearing a bowtie, "is that what i think it is?"

"uh, yeah, yeah it is," he laughed. the blonde immediately teared up, rushing up to hug him with a blinding smile on her face muttering _oh my god i love it i cannot believe you got that tattooed_. when she sat back in her seat after holding his face and kissing both of his cheeks, he explained to the others, "one day i was… not having a good day, and penelope saw that i wasn't very happy. she came up to me, left a post-it note on my desk and went straight back to her lair. she'd drawn this little cat on it to cheer me up and i just - i couldn't stop smiling. suddenly my day was so much better and it was all thanks to her and this cat. i still have the note but i wanted a permanent version so i got this as soon as i could."

jj cooed and told him how adorable it was before looking at morgan. "so, how do you feel knowing that he was telling the truth?"

morgan, who still had not closed his mouth since the reveal, shook his head slowly. "well, first of all, i'm sorry for doubting you. second of all, i gotta know, how many do you have?" 

"about forty." 

"about?"

"some pieces consist of more than one thing so it depends on whether you count them individually or not. so yeah, about forty."

"which one's your favourite?" hotch questioned, a small smile etched onto his face at seeing the usually closed-off agent be so open.

spencer closed his eyes and smiled softly at the ground for a second before answering, "it's definitely this one." he pointed at the crook of his left arm, where six small stars sat, looking like they were drawn by a child. "i was babysitting henry and he spilled his juice on my shirt, so i had to take it off and leave just my short-sleeved undershirt on. we ended up falling asleep together on the sofa but when i woke up, henry was right in front of my face with a black marker. i swear, my heart stopped thinking he drew in permanent marker on my face, that was terrifying. i asked him why he had the marker and he said, 'you have dots on your elbow but dots are boring and stars are pretty so i gave you stars' and i, uh, i cried, then and there. he thought he made me mad at first and i had to explain that sometimes people cry when they're happy. as soon as i put him to bed, i was on the phone to my tattoo guy arranging for me to go straight there before the marker washed off."

by the end of the story, penelope had tears in her eyes again and jj was openly crying. everyone else had matching smiles on their faces as the mother got up to have a closer look. she could faintly feel the scars of the hidden track marks beneath the ink as she traced over the tattoo. "this one is my favourite too."

"i'm glad." he replied quietly.

"okay so i'm pretty sure we should order food soon if we want an actual lunch but before reid puts his shirt back on i wanna know which one you got first. you said you got it at fifteen, what in the world would a fifteen year old genius get tattooed and how did you get someone to do it?" prentiss inquired as jj sat down.

everyone's curiosity was instantly piqued when spencer's face turned red and he pursed his lips. "maybe we should uh, just skip that one. yeah i think that's a great idea actually." 

as he reached down to quickly grab his shirt from the table in front of him, garcia's arm shot out and grabbed his wrist. "not so fast, 187, tell us the story." they stared each other in the eye for a few second before the tattooed man sighed and dropped the shirt. 

"before i start this story, i need to let you all know that i was really drunk at the time and so was my friend who did the tattoo." 

"wait wait wait, so not only were you getting a tattoo at fifteen, you were getting drunk?" laughed morgan.

"yes, morgan. keep in mind that most all of the people i was friends at this point were older than me." he sighed again before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "so my friends and i were in my dorm watching toy story because it had just come out a few months prior - yes that's important, stop laughing, morgan - and getting drunk. to put into context just how drunk i was, at the time i was drinking straight out of the bottle of tequila and this is the last part of the night that i can remember. you're probably all worried right now so i should clarify that at this moment the oldest person in the room was seventeen, so no adults, and i was the youngest.

but anyway, my friends were doing stick and pokes and the guy doing them asked if i wanted one, i said yes and told him to surprise me. i remember him asking me a bunch of questions about who i was dating and how long we'd been together and i was so drunk i didn't question it. big mistake. at that point, my memory gets too fuzzy and i don't know what happened for the rest of the night. i wake up in the morning with a killer hangover and my foot hurting so i take a look. it seems that he got inspired by the toys in the movie having their owners name on their foot so to this day, i have my fucking ex's name written on the sole of my right foot." 

he opened his eyes as laughter sounded throughout the room, even hotch chuckling. he couldn't help but giggle a little too at how ridiculous it sounded out loud.

"did you ever - did you ever tell whoever you were dating about the tattoo?" garcia struggled to get the words out through her laughter.

"i'm glad you all find this so funny because i gotta say, it was mortifying. as soon as i realised that scrubbing at it in the shower wasn't making it go away, i was on the phone explaining everything through a panic attack. next thing i know, my door is bursting open and he's running into the room pulling his own shoe off. he got one too! my name is written on my ex-boyfriend's foot forever. so yeah, i got matching tattoos with my ex-boyfriend at fifteen years old whilst completely wasted on tequila."

"i thought you were meant to be a genius child prodigy!" jj giggled.

"tell me you guys at least stayed together for a while after that." rossi begged though his own peals of laughter.

at this point, reid was also laughing, though not quite as much as morgan or prentiss who both had tears running down their faces. "we were together for another two years and are still friends now, so it's all good. makes for a great story when we catch up with college friends though."

hotch was the first to stop laughing, though the smile remained. "alright, we can ask reid more about how much of a mess he is later but at least order food and put on a shirt first." 

"aw, come on, i like looking at -" jj paused and looking more intensely at spencer, who squirmed under her gaze. "hey, spence?"

"yes, jj?"

"is that a hole at the top of your belly button?"

"...so i'm assuming that means you also don't know about my piercings?" 

"we're never going to eat, are we?" hotch asked rossi as the rest of the room shouted various shocked words at the man stood in front of them.

"no, my friend, we are not."

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed! spencer with tattoos is a personal favourite of mine, and of course i can't help but slip bisexual spencer in wherever i can because i hate that it's not explicitly canon. again, all feedback is appreciated as it was wrote quite quickly and i've yet to thoroughly check for mistakes:)
> 
> i have a [tumblr](http://sadspencer.tumblr.com) too with the same username as here:)


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